Through the Darkness Comes Light
by Another Girl With a Pen
Summary: The sacrifices that Bane makes to save a young girl. The Dark Knight Rises! Bane/Talia
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, I just saw The Dark Knight Rises last night, and I have so many feelings over Bane. I wish he had his own movie, but I know that will never happen. Christopher Nolan is Midas, and I worship that ground he walks on. Bane is my favorite villain of all time, and I highly recommend the movie if you like awesomness. Here is just a little look into the mind of Bane. It doesn't give away any spoilers._

* * *

God was in her eyes.

Light.

Humanity.

Freedom.

Innocence.

It was all in her eyes.

A young girl born into this world of darkness.

She was their only redemption.

She was _my_ redemption.

I replay that moment in my head.

The moment that I decided to take back all my sins, the demons that laid on my shoulders.

They were too heavy to carry.

She weighed nothing.

I wanted her to be reborn again from the ashes of our hell.

She was beauty and purity.

She did not belong among us.

The others wanted to destroy her.

Blinded by their own desperation and greed.

I wouldn't let them touch her.

She was not theirs, and she was not mine.

She was the suns, and when I saw her rise above the surface, farther than any other, I knew who she was.

The only light in the sea of darkness.

I was broken, but I would not die.

I knew she would come back one day.

She would save us all.

She would save _me_.


	2. Chapter 2

The demons within now covered my face.

Men tearing at flesh.

Blood.

Rage.

I saw light as they ripped at my face.

Not natural light.

A white light that blinded my vision.

It matched the pain I felt as the men grabbed.

One put a piece to his lips and smiled.

I didn't scream.

Not till I knew she was far away.

My silence frightened the others.

They grew weary of their fun, so they left me

Alone.

When there was no sun, I raged.

I screamed until there was nothing left.

I killed the man who tasted my flesh.

While he slept.

I smashed a rock against his head.

Over and over and over and over.

I covered my hands in his blood, so that the others would know.

The pain made time move slower.

I was living a millennia.

I was Prometheus.

Living each day in pain.

But I didn't give the humans fire.

I took it away from them.

They punished me with silence.

Exile.

It was as if I did not share this hole with them.

I was in Mantua.

I was a leaper.

I looked like one.

I smelled of death.

Death sat next to me during those days, months, years.

_Who are you?_ He would ask.

I would answer, but he always repeated the same thing.

_Who are you?_

* * *

One day the sky rained men.

_Who are you?_ He asked.

_Bane. Who are you?_

This time death answered back.

_Ra's al Ghul._


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you for the support and comments on the story. I wanted to warn you all that I have not read the Batman comics, and I do not try to act like I am a Batman expert. My story is strictly based on what I saw in the Dark Knight Rises movie. I don't believe that it is ever specified the period of time between Talia leaving the Pit and Ra's al Ghul's coming to the Pit, so I have made the time period around a year and a half. Bane and Talia's age are never specified either. So for creative purposes, he is around 23-24 at the time of his rescue, and she is 13._

* * *

_I don't know you_. I said under the blood-stained cloth.

The prisoners on the floor yelled out.

_Mercy._ They screamed.

Mercy will not come.

It does not come for any of us.

Death stared at me.

He did not move, even when the other men called to him.

_Bane._ He said.

A combination of relief and disgust.

_There is someone who will be happy you are alive._

The light.

The sun.

She had made it.

He helped me to my feet.

The prisoners yelled and hit their hands upon the bars.

Bodies were scattered on the floor.

Blood and darkness.

Men gathered around.

They wore black and carried guns.

_What are you here for?_ He asked.

I did not answer.

He did not wait for an answer.

They lifted me out of the pit.

The day that was never to come.

Darkness was my sentencing.

It was where I had slowly begun to accept my death.

The sun was brighter than I remember.

The wind colder.

The air hotter.

The sand more stifling.

The world I had once known was not the world anymore.

Seconds.

Minutes.

Hours.

Days.

Weeks.

Years.

Had passed, but I had never believed this day would come.

I could not allow myself to think that way.

Thinking of freedom, the sun, was dangerous in the pit.

It drove men insane.

It made people struggle to feel the world again, but they always fell towards hells once again.

All but one.

A girl.

And she was waiting somewhere in this world.

Moving was painful.

The scars had not healed.

The man gave medicine to ease it.

_We have a long way to go._

It traveled down my veins.

Pumped through my heart.

It released me.

I was a human again.

I was walking in the world.

And I could do so without the crippling pain.

But I kept the cloth on.

When one of the men tried to remove it, I broke his hand.

_Do not touch._

Death started. Ghul stared.

I did not know who he was to the girl.

I could only guess.

I could only guess all that he had lost in the pit.

He saw her in the blood that caked my mask.

In the way I squinted at the sun.

In the way I breathed in the world.

_Where are you from? _He asked.

_Have you had formal training?_

We were aboard a plane.

Destination unknown.

I had grown use to dirt and blood.

I did not belong in this world of leather and glass and endless skies.

_Where are we going?_ I answered him with a question.

He did not deserve to know the things I had seen.

I have known violence all my life.

From a young age I became aware of the dark seed that grows in every man.

Including myself.

_The Lazarus Pit_. He said.

I shook my head. _I don't do pits._

_You will do this one._

I looked at him.

He did not flinch.

He did not look away.

_You will protect my daughter._

I looked at my hands.

The were calloused and beaten.

Like the rest of me.

_Talia. You have done it before, and you will do it again. _He said.

I had no choice.

It was never an option.

I would leave hell for another hell.

But there was a light.

There was a flicker.

And with the medicine, I didn't feel the pain anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

There she was.

Alone.

Away from the men with guns that meet us.

I cannot see her face.

But she looks at us.

She is so small.

Standing at the top of the stairs.

The men are silent on their march.

Ghul orders.

The medicine has worn off.

I can feel the pain.

It makes my hands shake.

The pit is darker than the hell I came from.

A dull, artificial light surrounds it.

She runs.

She yells.

She embraces Ghul.

_I didn't know when you would come back._

She says into his sleeve.

She is taller.

Her hair has grown, and it brushes the back of her shoulder.

She looks at me.

Her eyes grow large.

There is fear in them.

She scans the bloody cloth that covers my face.

She stops on my eyes.

They are the same eyes I saw before she left.

Before she entered the light.

They have never left the dark.

Hell still clings to her features.

The way her eyes gloss over.

The way her fingers dig into Ghul's shoulder.

_I have brought you some one. _He says.

_I know. _

Her voice is trained.

It does not falter.

I tried to save her from the darkness, but she is not saved.

I look away.

What am I doing here?

_You are the one that saved me?_ She walks toward me.

Her footing is sure, but her breath is uneven.

Her eyes search.

They are grabbing for something.

_No._ I say between gritted teeth.

Her brow arches.

She looks to Ghul.

His face is calculated.

He is hiding also.

He gives a strained nod.

She looks at me again.

She looks into my eyes.

She lifts her chin.

_You lie._ Her voice is firm.

_What is your name?_

_Bane. _

It is the first truth I have told since I was sucked out of the Pit.

She does not believe me, but she accepts the name.

Her features soften.

She is the child I saved.

I can see the pain in her eyes.

Mother. She screams through clinched lips.

Mother.

_Well, Bane_ _will be your guardian name_. He lingers on my name.

He doesn't like how it tastes.

She turns to him.

She has grown, but she is still so small.

_When I am away. He will watch you._

The darkness begins to inch towards me.

I am here forever.

(As long as I am of use to them.)

She turns to me.

She searches for her mother.

Hoping that I have brought her with me.

_You will protect me. _

Her voice is small.

_Yes. _I say.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I will protect her till the darkness consumes the light.

Till there is nothing left.

Yes, I will protect her.

I see a faint smile cross her lips.

But it is gone in an instant.

* * *

They have fixed my face.

They have fixed my face by covering it.

The metallic smell will not leave.

It feels cold against my skin.

I feel around its edges trying to distinguish where the mask and I begin.

The medicine.

I like it.

It makes my mouth water.

And for the first time in a long time, I can see the world without pain.


	5. Chapter 5

_This was my favorite chapter to write. Let me know what you think. Thank you to all of the positive feedback. I am glad to know that there are other Bane lovers out there._

* * *

_Fire, girl. Fire._

Ghul yells.

His voice echoes off the cold rocks overhead.

Talia lunges forward, putting all her weight into her fists.

He steps.

She falls.

_It most come out of you._

_But you most control it. _He says_._

I hold my position on the farthest wall.

I clasp my hands behind my back.

It takes all not to move.

Do not move.

Do not move.

Like a chant.

Rise.

She rises.

Her brow is furrowed.

Anger and blood cover her face.

_Control the fire._ Ghul says under his breath.

He looks at me, daring me to move.

She clenches her fists.

She breathes deeply.

Her hands stop shaking and the ripples on her face calm.

She dashes at him.

But falls to her hands again.

I test the dirt under my boot.

I do not move.

_Control it girl._ He says.

_I am trying. _The words come out of her rabid.

Like a scared dog put into a corner.

She lets her forehead fall to the ground.

Ghul walks out without another word.

This is how most of her training sessions end.

The first time I tried to wait outside the door.

Ghul would not allow it.

_Your duty is to watch her._ He said.

Her fists beat once against the floor.

A signal of defeat.

Do not move.

Rise.

She must make the first move.

I follow her.

Where ever she goes.

Sometimes she tries to lose me in the maze-like corridors.

She turns her head smiling.

_You will never find me._ She calls.

Hiding behind barrels.

Under beds.

Around doors.

She clinches her eyes shut.

As if that will help her blend into the darkness.

The look on her face always stops me.

There is pain hidden deep in the child.

She tries to block it out.

It is a shared pain.

I tap her on the shoulder.

Lightly.

Barely.

She opens her eyes.

She is not surprised.

I find her every time.

_How do you do that?_

Lamplight floods her eyes.

It dances on her hair.

_It is my job._ My voice sounds hollow, artificial.

She never smiles after her lessons.

Like a beaten horse.

But I do not move.

Rise.

She looks around the room.

Half expecting Ghul to still be there.

Her eyes rest for a moment on my boots.

They are dirty and battered.

_I think I will lie down for a while._

Dark bruises have begun to form around her arms and legs.

Her voice is high. Out of pitch.

She tries to stay strong as she wipes off her pants.

_There is no need for you to follow._ She says over her shoulder as she leaves the training room.

I must follow anyway.

She floats down the hall.

She does not turn and look.

But I know she hears my boots echoing down the hall like a song.

Move. Follow. Rise.


End file.
